Hi there! Today, I am going to share some of the most common questions I get asked by my patients. As a registered dietitian, I see patients for a wide variety of reasons. Diabetes, pre-diabetes, weight loss, renal disease, unintentional weight loss and food allergies are some of the many visit types I encounter on a day to day basis. I have found that some questions come up more often than others. Here are some of the common questions with a brief response for each.

This is a tough one! I wish I had a magic answer because I would be the most successful/popular dietitian around! Unfortunately, there is no magic trick for weight loss. Each person is different. I always recommend a balanced diet focused on including the different food groups using the MyPlate method. This method also focuses on portion control, which is important for weight management. Another important aspect of weight loss and weight management is regular physical activity. Mindful eating is another important part of obtaining or maintaining a healthy weight. Listening to your body is key.

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2. “Do I have to exercise? I hate exercising!”

This is something I hear almost everyday! The key to staying on track with an exercise plan is to find something you like to do. I think people tend to think of exercise as a chore rather than something fun. The more enjoyable you make exercising, the more beneficial it will be for you! If you hate to run, don’t run! Choose something else. Personally, I love group fitness classes. I try to include group fitness classes every week because I enjoy them. I have some patients that absolutely hate working out with other people, so I would never suggest that they start taking group fitness classes.

Physical activity has many benefits beyond helping with weight loss. It can reduce your chance of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease, strengthen muscles and bones, reduce stress and improve overall mental health. Pick something you enjoy and think of the positive impact the activity has on your health!

3. “What time of day is the best time to exercise?”

My answer to this question is, WHENEVER WORKS BEST FOR YOU!! There is a lot of research about what time of day is the best for engaging in physical activity. Some studies show that you will burn more calories first thing in the morning. However, the most important thing is that you fit in exercise regularly. You will get the most benefit from exercise at whatever time best fits with your schedule. Some people love to get up at 4:00am to workout and others cannot imagine doing anything besides sleeping at that hour of the day. This goes back to my previous answer about exercise. The more enjoyable you can make it, the better! This includes picking the time of day when you find the most enjoyment in your workout of choice.

Yes!! Most canned/frozen fruits and veggies are processed within hours of being picked, so their nutritive value is preserved. Canned and frozen produce last longer which can be beneficial for people that waste a lot of fresh produce by letting it go bad. When choosing canned or frozen produce, look for products that do not have anything else added to them. Some canned fruit products will have syrup on the label, avoid these and look for fruit that is canned in its own juice. Some frozen veggies will have added cheese or something else added, look for products that are 100% vegetable with nothing added. Also, choose a wide variety of fruits and veggies. The more variety you eat, the more nutrients you are getting!

If anyone has any additional questions, feel free to comment below! Or, if you are a health professional, I would love to hear what questions you commonly hear from your patients.

Today I felt refreshed and ready to start a new week! Sometimes the chaos of the holidays can leave you craving a routine. I woke up early to get prepared for my PiYo class. We had a great class…I already feel it in my legs! Then, I was able to get a massage which was much needed. The knots in my shoulders are temporarily gone!

I go back to work tomorrow! But then have Thursday off for New Years! So it’s still not a full work week!

I have met a lot of people that do not have any idea what a dietitian does. After being a dietitian for over two years, I still have some friends/family members that think I help prepare food in the hospital kitchen. Other people think of dietitians as “the food police” that tell people what to eat. I think this misconception has a lot to do with the fact that there are so many areas that a dietitian can choose to work. I thought it would be interesting to talk about what it means to be a dietitian (RD) here on my blog.

(eatright.org)

According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, a dietitian is a food and nutrition expert. In order to become a registered dietitian, you have to obtain a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and complete an accredited dietetic internship which usually lasts about one year. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I completed a combined Master’s program and internship, which is also an option. Immediately after your internship, you are eligible to take the RD exam. If you pass this exam, you are officially a registered dietitian!

Now let’s talk a little bit about the different areas that a dietitian can work. There are many paths that a registered dietitian can take after passing the RD exam. Some dietitians work in the clinical field of dietetics. This includes hospitals, nursing homes and doctor’s offices. I am currently a clinical dietitian. In this field, a dietitian provides medical nutrition therapy to individuals with certain medical conditions. RDs in this field are usually responsible for determining tube feeding formulas and rates and assisting with determining the needs of individuals receiving nutrition through an IV. The RD is also responsible for ensuring that residents or patients are fed a nutritionally appropriate diet at every meal. In this area, a dietitian will likely work with both patients that are hospitalized or in the nursing home and outpatients that are referred to you by medical providers. RDs may also teach group classes that help prevent diabetes, encourage weight loss or teach people the basics of nutrition.

Another area that a dietitian can work is in community nutrition. Dietitians working in this area typically develop programs and teach people in different communities about food and nutrition. This field is very broad and includes many different areas. Working with mothers and children through WIC is one example of what a dietitian might do in this area.

Food service management is another choice for dietitians. If you work in food service management, you could work at several different locations such as school districts, hospitals, prisons, nursing homes or restaurant chains. In this field, the dietitian may be responsible for buying food, creating a budget, designing appropriate menus and ensuring that the kitchen staff adheres to food safety practices. The dietitian may also be responsible for managing kitchen staff or other dietitians. At the hospital where I currently work, one of the dietitians works as a clinical dietitian and is also responsible for overseeing the kitchens at the nursing home and hospital.

These are just a few of the many areas that dietitians work. Other areas include private practice, corporate wellness, military, research, academia, and marketing. One of the perks of being a dietitian is having so many different options for your career path. My favorite part about being a dietitian is being able to help people improve their health through food and nutrition! I think that it is possible for dietitians to help people achieve better health in all of the different career paths they choose.

I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about what the career path of a dietitian! I plan on doing more posts about the ins and outs of being a dietitian, so if you have any questions, feel free to comment or email me :)

This link will take you to a video that shows some of the different career paths of dietitians:

If you are a dietitian, I would love to hear what area you are currently working in??

Hi there! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We had a great holiday and also celebrated my birthday on Sunday :) I can’t believe it is already December!

I love the idea of fitting in exercise on Thanksgiving morning so that the rest of the day can be spent celebrating with friends and family. Turkey trots and other Thanksgiving day runs have become really popular. Our small town has a turkey trot, but I totally forgot to sign up! :( Sad day! So, my husband and I waited until the weather warmed up and did our own version of a turkey trot. We walked for about an hour and it felt great! Definitely a perfect way to start our day!

After our workout, I started on my crock pot cranberry dish and went to help my mom set the table for dinner. We started dinner at around 7:00 and had all of the staple dishes…turkey, cranberries, potatoes, stuffing, rolls, broccoli and of course pumpkin pie! I tried to take a little bit of everything and enjoyed every bit! I was full and didn’t have seconds but did enjoy leftovers the next day. I have a weird love of leftover turkey with ketchup….odd I know! We had 13 people at dinner this year. It was a great group and we had a lot of fun!

For my birthday, I was treated to Starbucks and breakfast in bed and then spent the day with family! My mom and I went for a brisk walk in 20 degree weather and we finished the day with dinner at a Mexican restaurant! Margaritas and fried ice cream were great birthday treats! I’m excited for the year ahead!

Okay, that’s all I have for today! I’m planning a post explaining what dietitians do and the different areas that a dietitian can work. So, please comment if you have any questions on that topic!

For many of us, November is the start of a long, cold winter season. It can be really difficult to stay active in the winter for many reasons. The weather is no longer conducive to outdoor activities and makes it difficult to have the motivation to get out from under your warm blanket! Also, there is a risk of falling and getting injured that comes with the snow and ice of winter. However, all of these things aside, it is very important to stay active in the winter months! The more active you stay in the winter months, the better shape you will be in for the warm months to get outside and explore :)

Morning Run in Montana
Here are a few tips to help you keep moving this winter:

1. Make a plan! Think about what activities you will do to stay active and make a specific plan. Maybe you will get a gym membership, buy new workout videos, find an indoor walking route or plan outdoor winter activities like cross country skiing or snow shoeing. When we don’t have a plan, it can be very easy to let the cold weeks/months pass by with little or no activity.

2. Find a friend/group and create a workout challenge. Find someone or a group of people that are interested in staying active with you during the winter months. Challenge each other to meet goals such as 150 minutes of activity per week. Having someone to keep you accountable is so helpful!

3. Dress warm for outdoor activities. Make sure you have plenty of warm clothes on hand so that you are ready to go when outdoor activities arise. Dress in layers!

Layers! I probably even needed more :)

4. Focus on safety. If you decide to take your workouts outside in the winter, make sure safety is on your mind. You will need shoes with good traction and ankle support to prevent falls. Find a route that is plowed frequently. Also, make sure if you’re body is telling you that you are too cold, listen! Although it is great to go outside in the winter months, some places have dangerous low temperatures that make it unsafe to exercise outside. Do what’s best for your body!

Living in Montana, I am definitely starting to plan how I will stay active this winter. I will be getting a gym membership so that I can attend group fitness classes. I also plan to go cross country skiing with my mom (on days when it’s not bitter cold)! My husband and I still try to go on walks throughout the week in the winter months. The walks do get a little shorter when the temperatures drop too much :)

Hi there! I hope everyone had a great Halloween! We had surprisingly nice weather for the holiday, so we handed out lots of candy to little kids. I was glad that we handed out the majority of the candy that I bought because it was too tempting sitting by the front door :)

Source: Mint.com

Today, I wanted to share one of my new adventures with you guys! I recently started teaching group fitness classes at a local dance studio. This has been a long time goal of mine, and I am so excited to finally make it a reality!

A little history about my experience with teaching fitness classes…I taught group fitness classes when I was in high school at a local assisted living facility! I loved it! The classes were very laid back, and I had a lot of freedom to teach whatever I wanted. I taught four classes/week. Once I graduated high school and went on to college, I stopped teaching. However, I continued to attend group fitness classes all the time. I am definitely more motivated when I have upbeat people working out with me! It took me 3 months to commit to a gym when I moved to Phoenix because I had to try ALL of the different classes first :)

So, last summer I decided to dive back into teaching. I am still researching which group fitness instructor certification I want to get (ACSM/NASM). But in the meantime, I attended a training to become a PiYo instructor. PiYo is an upbeat workout set to fun music that incorporates yoga and Pilates moves. My husband (fiance at the time) and I traveled to Spokane, Washington for the training. The training was amazing! The instructor had so much energy and all of the future instructors were so excited and upbeat. The training was 8 hours long, and we did PiYo for at least 4 hours of that time. I was so sore the next day! We had to teach the group a section of the class in order to receive our certification. I was so excited on the ride home and made my husband listen to PiYo music the whole way (which was over 4 hours)! I’m sure he loved every second of it :)

Awesome group of future PiYo instructors!

Now that I was certified to teach PiYo, I had to take the next (much harder) step of actually TEACHING it! I practiced and practiced and thought about continuing to procrastinate but decided I had to start sometime. I don’t think I would have every felt 100% ready to teach my first class. But, I did it and it went great! It was a lot of fun, and the participants seemed to enjoy it. I absolutely love teaching PiYo so far and cannot wait to expand my group fitness training so that I can teach more classes!

Getting Ready to Teach

Here are a few tips for people thinking about teaching group fitness:
1. Make sure that you enjoy doing the class that you are going to teach! The more you enjoy the class–the more enthusiastic and motivating you will be for your class.
2. You will never feel totally ready to teach your first class, but after a lot of practice, you just need to take the plunge, you will learn and improve as you go.
3. Research certifications that are close to your home! Completing the training boosted my confidence a ton.
4. Be confident! Most of us tend to second guess ourselves but the more confidence you have, the more successful you will be!

Any group fitness instructors out there with more tips to prepare yourself for teaching? What is your favorite group fitness class to take or teach?

Hello there! After a long, unintentional break…I am back! Let me catch you up on what has happened since my last post (which was in January 2014!!). Okay….I planned my wedding (with lots of help from my mom, friends and husband), went to San Diego for a college girls’ trip, became certified to teach PiYo, was the maid of honor in my best friends’ wedding in Colorado, completed a course to become a certified lactation counselor, celebrated my bridal shower (x2), celebrated my bachelorette party, got married, went to Cabo for our honeymoon and returned and tried to get back into a normal routine!! Phewww!! And, in the midst of all of those things were the everyday things like remodeling our house, new projects at work, spending lots of time with my cute little niece and many, many more! So, now that I’m back, I have lots to share with you guys!

Be on the look out this week for some nutrition blog posts. I have some fun posts planned covering topics such as wedding weight loss, getting back to meal planning and much more! Stay tuned!

Hi there! How was everyone’s weekend? We had a nice weekend with a good mixture of relaxation and fun! We got our engagement pictures taken on Saturday…the weather did not cooperate with us so I am very curious to see how they turn out.

I can’t believe it is Monday already! I’m off on Mondays now though, so it kind of feels like an extra day of the weekend for me. I like to use Mondays to get on track for the week. Meal planning is completely necessary for me if we want to eat healthy, home cooked meals all week. Here is the plan for our dinner meals this week!

MONDAY:
Southwestern Stuffed Peppers–I found this recipe on Pinterest and love it!!

TUESDAY:
Crock Pot Stew–I’m still looking for the perfect stew recipe :) I found a few but will keep you posted on what recipe I decide.

WEDNESDAY:
Leftover Stew–Love leftovers!

THURSDAY:
Tuna Melt Paninis: We got a panini press for Christmas. I made eggplant Parmesan paninis last week, and they were great! We will have a basic salad with our sandwiches. Easy!!

FRIDAY:
No plans yet. We usually grab something for dinner or go out to dinner on Friday nights.

Moving right along to my week of workouts! I am really trying to focus on maximizing my workouts. I am also making working out a top priority! My goal is at least 5 workouts per week, but 6 would be even better :)

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great holiday :) I love the holidays, but it feels good to get back into a routine too!

The new year has everyone talking about resolutions. I prefer to make goals rather than resolutions. Resolutions sometimes make people focus on the negative things from the year before. Goals give us the chance to challenge ourselves in a positive way!

Here are a few of my goals for 2014. I like to make goals throughout the year too!

1. Focus on healthy living. This includes eating whole foods as often as possible. It also includes fitting in physical activity at least 5 days per week! My goal is to focus on healthy living in order to feel my best at my wedding in August.

2. Fit in time for relaxation. Wedding planning can be stressful! My goal is to squeeze in relaxation whenever possible. This can include anything from a mini vacation to a hot bath before bed!

3. Run a half marathon!! This is something that needs to be crossed off my bucket list. I have done color runs, dirty dashes, 5ks, 10ks but never a half marathon. I hope to have this off the list by 2015!

4. Obtain a group fitness instructor certificate. I have been looking into this for a long time, and it’s time to just do it!! Why not squeeze something else into this crazy year :)

Well, those are a few of my thoughts for 2014. As I mentiond, this will be a crazy year! By this time next year I will be married!! CRAZY!! I also get to stand by one of my best friends’ side when she gets married. And, we have another wedding of a close friend one month before ours. Exciting times!!

What are your thoughts on resoutions?? Any exciting goals for the new year??

Hello there! Happy holidays! If you celebrate both Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’m sure you are feeling some holiday cheer (and maybe a little holiday stress as well). This time of year can be so busy! It is really important to enjoy every minute of the holiday season. But, it is equally as important to focus on yourself and your health. There are hundreds of “tips and tricks” to stay on track with your healthy lifestyle during the holiday season. This post is going to provide some practical ideas that I use to stay on track during the holidays. 1. Fit in exercise whenever/wherever you can! I have read several articles that encourage people to continue their regular exercise schedule during the holiday season. Although I think this is a great, lofty goal, it might not be the most practical. If your Ugly Sweater Christmas Party falls on the same day/time as your usual weekly spinning class…I highly recommend attending the party! These fun holiday activities only happen once every year, so enjoy the time with friends and family. My recommendation and my personal goal during busy holiday weeks is to squeeze in exercise whenever possible. Maybe you can arrange a morning hike/walk/jog with some of the people attending your holiday party later in the day. That way you will enjoy your party even more knowing that you were able to fit a workout in that day too! If you can do 10 minutes of uninterrupted exercise, it counts towards the weekly goal of 150 minutes recommended by the CDC for healthy adults.

2. Bring a healthy, delicious dish to pot luck style parties. This one is pretty straight-forward. Not only will you have something to eat that you know is healthy and delicious, but you will also encourage others to enjoy healthy, wholesome foods.

3. Start a healthy competition with a friend or family member. Challenge each other to stay on track during this busy time of year. One idea would be to purchase FitBits or pedometers and make a daily step goal and compare each week. It is always helpful to have someone else with similar goals to increase accountability and success!